My 3500S is currently fitted with steel wheel with RO-style trims.
Dont really feel like taking the studs out and fitting SD1 type studs as its a bit of a faff. However! Some kind person also posted up a link to Rally - art who apparently can supply wheelnuts with the UNF thread.
My questions are:
Which nuts do I need to buy for my SD1 wheels?
Will they fit without mods?
Do I need spacers?
What is the max tyre size I can fit without the tyres fouling?
... I was going to fit minilite replicas but they are £200 + I will be picking up these SD1 alloys for a mere £15 on friday.
I am no stranger to alloy wheel restoration. I realise "a bit of pollishing" means at least 8 hours work per wheel.
Advice, thoughts, comments, as ever very much apriciated.
I am determined to make this P6 look stunning!
First priority - make sure you liberate at least some wheel nuts from the original SD1 with the wheels! That'll save you having to buy some separately from Rimmer's just to establish what the seat design against the wheel looks like!
Once you have these it should be relatively simple to get new ones made up with a different thread. If necessary just send the old ones as a pattern for what the seat area should look like.
Max tyre section in an unmodified wheel arch is 205. I think the wheels you bought are 14"? So the correct rolling radius puts you half way between 205/75 and 205/70 (high geared and low geared respec) or you could plump for 195/75 which are very close.
Best plot would probably be to get one wheel with a scrap tyre on and check it on the car for clearance against the D post. With 205's the offset is very critical and you might find you'd like to skim a tad off the hub face of the wheel as i did with the SD1 Vitesse alloys. If you wanted to do this it would be nice to do it before you got polishing! If things were too tight you could also retreat to 195's without financial loss on the tyres! While you're at it also check the clearance round the front hub grease cap - SD1 Vitesse wheels demand either an SD1 grease cap or a slight relief to the inside bore of the wheel centre.
As an aside, try and see if you can get studs with the SD1 thread - they are not that hard to change. I've had some made up for the Vitesse wheels rather than try to source the nuts. I think Paprika had a thread on getting nuts made up a while back - try a search on his threads.
They are VDP rims, but I thought like Chris they should be 14"? Your link takes us to a VDP example but the image looks a bit 'doctored'.
For £15 I suppose you will not be getting nuts too, but these can be bought quite easily. I got just a fiver for my set.
If you want to stay with your 7/16 UNF studs you can as you've found - if they are the longer type that is? If your studs are too short, find a breaker with early Sierra UNF studs. it would be wise to treat studs and nuts as disposable items and change with new once you're happy.
I fitted the SD1 15" Vitesse rims with 205/50 (because they were spare in the garage and young, not because the were correct rolling radius choice!), no mods, keeping the original studs. I bought as set of those collared 7/16 thread nuts complete with sleeves, chromed for ~£30 from a fleabay shop last year so it's about right. Chrome and casting quality is dire though.
(One word though - if you anyone intends to get Vitesse style rims, you'd best reglue/screw the centre caps with the cap clip behind! I've lost three caps so far and they are sought after as they rust - £10 a cap even s/h. They come unglued in hot weather (...or was I driving too fast ))
Chris is right, you may have to relieve the centre to fit the hub correctly. They'll fit and bolt home, but take a closer look they may not be flush.
I wouldn't go as wide as 205 again, the grip is superb, but the car trams and kicks, and is spoiled. Plus the neg camber and overall wider track helps give your ball-joints a beating.... Stick with 195/70 it's spot-on radius for 15" and <5% out for 14".
The ebay number for the ones I am buying tommorow is 250028781641
I am hoping to pollish them up to a mirror finish like the ones in the link?
However, the ones fitted to the black p6 look like they have been painted? The painted rover emblem in the middle is gorgeous. Would look even better if they were as highly pollished as the first link I gave?
I've just (as in this morning) seen a beautiful J reg Dark Brown 3500 parked in Letchworth. It has SD1 VDP wheels which are either new old stock or refurbished in the original metallic grey laquer. Either way they also have the Longship centre caps and they look superb, much better than polished examples and more suited to the car.
Martin refurbished one of my wheels... pollished the rim and left the metalic grey laquer in the middle as it was so good. Looked really impressive IMHO.
Its just a pity the car they were going on is goosed!
I was a bit slow on the uptake with this thread, just checked the link in the initial post to the picture gallery and was suprised to find a photo of my lowered Arctic White '73 3500!
I hasten to add the photo was taken by the previous owner, and one of the first things I did when I got her was remove the dark window tinting foil! As you can see the Vanden Plas SD1 14" rims fit and look great when polished. In the photo they are wearing 215/65 Toyos on the back and 205/65 Goodyears on the front. I've never experienced what Paprika describes as tramming or kicking, but then the inner D-posts had been massaged with a lump hammer, the bushings are stiff polyurethane all round and the springs are shorter and stiffer.
Yeah, SD1 Minilites will fit. Has anybody got a set of Magstars they'd like to sell me? ::
If Gully reads this post, please post a pic of your lowered P6.
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